Thanks to Eye Weekly, I had the chance to see an advance screening of the latest Kevin Smith flick, the concisely titled Zack and Miri Make a Porno. In case the marketing push / picture above didn’t tell you, The movie is a collaboration between slacker icons Smith and Seth Rogen, two comedians who deal with the same subject matter of pop culture-spouting low-ambition adults in markedly different ways, Smith favoring the long, drawn-out discourse and Rogen the rapid-fire throwaway reference. (Both love the dick jokes, though.) This clash of styles adversely affects the resulting ninetysomething minutes, but ultimately, the movie manages to entertain enough to be worth a watch.
Let’s get this out of the way as soon as possible: the romantic dialogue is awful in this movie. As expected, the plot follows the same fight-with-then-win-back-the-girl-with-a-speech premise that you’ve probably already seen in Mallrats or Knocked Up, but the execution is nowhere near as nerdily endearing or as well-written as either of the two. Smith tries to break from convention in where he chooses to stage the aforementioned conversations, but it’s not enough to distract from how and cliché the delivery of “but I know now that I love you” plays out. Rogen, who plays Zack, and his co-star Elizabeth Banks, as Miri, have great chemistry together— but only as friends. Sparks don’t exactly fly between the two by the point that they’re supposed to be attracted to each other, and how the movie arrives at said point is absolutely ludicrous. The one redeeming factor of the romance in the film is the one scene that makes excellent use of The Pixies’ Hey.
As a result, the best part of the movie is before the idea to make a fuck flick and the resulting romantic tension comes into play, as Zack and Miri attend their high school reunion. It’s here that we get the obligatory gratuitous cameo from Kevin Smith’s wife, but also where we get a stellar cameo by Justin Long, who steps outside his traditional role as straight man and delivers a flamingly fine performance as an old high school acquaintance’s new boyfriend. The movie is packed with appearances from both Rogen and Smith’s friend circles, most notably Jason Mewes (who we see quite a bit of) and Craig Robinson (who is ridiculously funny as Zack’s beleaguered coworker, but, unsettlingly, often comes off as an outlet for the black jokes Smith couldn’t make in movies past).
The leadup and preparation for the titular film is likewise hilarious— the movie only begins to drag when the shooting starts. Here, the jokes don’t come as fast or as satisfying, despite the best efforts of the suupporting cast. Jeff Anderson (Randal from Clerks) is suitably cynical as Deacon, the man behind the camera, and he’s the subject of a scene that had the entire audience groaning with disgust. It’s hard to disassociate Mewes from the character of Jay (I overheard at least a couple of conversations afterward expressing surprise that it was him in the movie) but his aforementioned performance as Lester delivers several good laughs. Also notable are appearances from horror-effects maven Tom Savini and veteran porn star Traci Lords.
Zack and Miri is best when Smith lets Rogen do his own thing, dialogue-wise. The pop culture references don’t feel quite so forced when they’re delivered with the casual air that Rogen manages. (Plus he totally looks like Jonah Hill when he shaves his beard, in that they’ve both got the ball-chin thing going on.) The plot is preposterous, but this also applies to the parts meant to be serious, as Rogen’s character runs away from his problems like only the finest of manchildren would.
While this site is dedicated to all things obscure, and this movie is pretty evidently not, it’s got enough small cameos and references to keep even the most jaded hipster entertained enough to say “I didn’t hate it.” (actual overheard quote.) For the less pretentious moviegoer, it’s a decent film to watch with friends or an open-minded significant other, but if you dislike either Kevin Smith or Seth Rogen, it’ll take away drastically from your enjoyment of the film. Even if you’re a fan of both their work, the combination doesn’t exactly live up to its potential, promising both Smith’s particular brand of puerile, nerdy sex jokes and Rogen’s penchant for great dialogue, but it delivers not enough of either to be wholly satisfying, either way.
Oh, and if the theatre lights don’t cue you, there’s a rather entertaining epilogue a little into the credit roll.
